scholarly journals Changes To Accounting For Defined Benefit Postretirement Plans: Discussion And Illustration

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman H. Godwin ◽  
Arlette C. Wilson

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Requests that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) address issues related to employers&rsquo; accounting for defined benefit postretirement plans have increased in recent years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Those requests have been made by users of financial statements and others, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff and representatives of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Constituents are interested in improved transparency and understandability.</span></span></p>

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. W. Miller

In 1996, a major financial reporting controversy emerged, escalated, and was resolved without substantial exposure or a formal due process. Specifically, a committee of the Financial Executives Institute (FEI) sent a letter to the chair of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) asserting that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) “process is broken and in need of substantive repair.” When Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt determined that neither FAF nor public accounting leaders were dealing with the FEI proposals to his satisfaction, he acted to defeat this perceived threat to FASB's independence, focusing on the composition of the FAF. In response, the FAF trustees resisted because they viewed his intervention as a threat to FASB's independence. When the trustees did not voluntarily change, Levitt proposed reconsidering Accounting Series Release No. 150, which designates FASB as the sole source of GAAP for SEC filings. Eventually, Levitt prevailed. This paper describes this intervention as a case of policy making without a formal due process and adds to the already weighty evidence that accounting standards are political.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Nicholas Alexander Tungga ◽  
Melithasya Angelina ◽  
Elliza .

Financial reports are important because they are useful for providing an overview for stakeholders in their decision making. Where in the preparation of financial statements the main regulation used is the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (PSAK) established by the Indonesian Institute of Accountants (IAI) through the Financial Accounting Standards Board (DSAK). In the current status quo of Indonesia in facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the existence of PSAK has begun to be tested, adjustments must be made to financial accounting standards which are useful to strengthen the lines of corporate accountability in Indonesia and are able to answer the main urgency of Indonesia today, namely the weakening of the country's economy. The purpose of this paper is to produce a framework that can later become an alternative for banks in making decisions for implementing the PSAK 71 post model. The approach used in this paper is a qualitative approach by providing arguments and solutions for Indonesia's current economic conditions through the resulting framework design. After considering the aspects that affect the risk of bad credit, the conclusion is that PSAK 71 is able to trigger an economic upturn in Indonesia, because in its implementation it does not necessarily look at one aspect only but considers other aspects in responding to issues related to bad credit.  Keywords: PSAK 71, Post Model Framework, Bad Credit, Indonesian Economy


2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (9) ◽  
pp. 355-364
Author(s):  
Dick Van Offeren ◽  
Joop Witjes ◽  
Tim Verdoes

De International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) heeft recent het conceptual framework-project als kernproject aangemerkt. Het oorspronkelijke Framework for the preparation and presentation of financial statements (framework 1989) was aan een fundamentele herziening toe. Samen met de Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) heeft de IASB de eerste fase van het Conceptual framework for financial reporting (framework 2010) voltooid. In deze eerste fase worden twee onderwerpen besproken. Dit zijn het doel van financiële verslaggeving en de kwalitatieve kenmerken van financiële verslaggeving. Wij bespreken deze twee onderwerpen en gaan in op de verschillen tussen het framework 2010 en het framework 1989. Wij benadrukken het verschil in toepassingsgebied van de twee frameworks. Het framework 2010 is gericht op het ruimere begrip financial reporting, financiële verslaggeving en het framework 1989 was beperkt tot financial statements, jaarrekeningen.


Author(s):  
Stuart Shough

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;">On August 17, 2010, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board jointly issued exposure drafts proposing a new accounting model for leases. This paper explains how a lessee would account for leases under this proposal.</span></p>


Author(s):  
Veronica Paz ◽  
Thomas Griffin

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of material differences in the conceptual framework of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on the financial statements.


Author(s):  
Carla Feinson

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The increasing popularity of gift card purchases by consumers and the corresponding increase in gift card sales in the retail industry has triggered changes in accounting disclosures and reporting requirements. The Financial Accounting Standards board, the Security and Exchange Commission and individual state legislatures have all begun to focused their attention on the various issues that are continually coming to the forefront as a result of the continuing rise in gift card transactions. The promulgations of these authoritative bodies have in turn affected the format and wording of the disclosures that are found in the annual reports or SEC filings of publicly held retail companies. An examination of 75 publicly traded retailers not only shows the similarities and differences of how gift card sales have affected disclosures but also how the very nature of gift card contracts and the ramifications of gift card sales has led to so many specific reporting and accounting difficulties.</span></span></p>


Author(s):  
Yousef Jahmani ◽  
William A. Dowling ◽  
Paul D. Torres

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The Financial Accounting Standards Board promulgated standard No. 142 in an attempt to improve the understandability of accounting information. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>This new rule eliminated the practice of automatically amortizing goodwill. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>No. 142 requires public companies to test goodwill for possible impairment at least annually. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>An unintended consequence of this new standard is the opportunity for companies to use it in earnings management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To test the possibility that the rule is being used for this purpose, a sample of companies was chosen, all of which had amounts of goodwill on their balance sheet during the 2003-2005 interval. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>The results reveal that the number of companies experiencing losses or low rates of return on total assets who actually impaired goodwill was statistically insignificant during the period under consideration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Thus, the results strongly suggest that companies are using No. 142 in an attempt to manage the volatility of earnings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kostolansky ◽  
Brian Stanko

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; text-align: justify; mso-pagination: none;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Over several decades, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board have enacted numerous changes to the controversial lease accounting rules. As currently prescribed, operating leases are treated as rental arrangements whereby the lessee does not record a liability - a situation generally referred to as off-balance sheet financing. In an attempt to increase transparency and comparability, the FASB and IASB will soon require all leases to be capitalized. This paper quantifies the impact of the new leasing standard on the financial statements and ratios of the firms and industries represented in the S&amp;P 100 under a variety of discount rates. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span>


1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank R. Rayburn ◽  
Ollie S. Powers

This paper traces the development of pooling of interests accounting for business combinations from 1945 to 1991. The history of the pooling concept is reviewed chronologically with particular emphasis on the events of 1969–1970 that were related to the most recent pronouncement on the subject, Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion No. 16. Early in its life (1974), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) placed a project on its agenda to reconsider pooling of interests accounting. That project was removed from the FASB's agenda in 1981. APB Opinion No. 16 has gone essentially unchanged as it relates to the accounting for a business combination as a pooling of interests. Resolution of implementation issues has been left largely to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the accounting profession. The FASB has a project on its agenda on Consolidations and Related Matters that may impact pooling of interests accounting. There also is some pressure for the FASB to revisit accounting for business combinations.


Author(s):  
Sanford Lewis ◽  
Margaret Byrne

Amidst discussion by policymakers about how regulators' failure to ensure disclosure of risks contributed to the current financial crisis, we assess how emerging product toxicity risks are addressed in companies' financial reports. Will corporations blindside investors with “the next asbestos?” Existing disclosures are found lacking in the specificity needed to forewarn of liabilities and reputational damage from the use of potentially harmful materials—from nanotechnologies, to asthmagens, to perfluorinated compounds. Improved standards could protect investors while also enhancing corporate incentives to use safer materials. Reforms by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board are recommended.


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